1

Girls In White Dresses

By Dr. Jim Cooper, Upper School History teacher and
2007 Recipient of the Lulu Hampton Owen Award
Thank you and good afternoon students, faculty, staff, parents, and other guests. I
am honored to have this opportunity to address you today. For me the Cum Laude
Assembly is one of those rare mountain-top experiences in which we as a community
briefly pause from our frenetic pace to reflect upon our primary mission and purpose as a
school. That which may have become opaque due to our busy schedules, now comes into
clear focus. The solemnity of this hour and what we are about here should give us all
more than a little pause.
Girls In White Dresses. Thats the title and ultimate focus of this speech, but I did
not know this when I set out to write it. I actually took many turns and even some detours
in my thinking and writing before I came to grasp where my intellectual and emotional
travels would and should end.
Many times in life we encounter situations similar to this. We face problems,
tasks, or opportunities, and we are not sure how to begin to deal with them, much less
what the final outcome of our engagement with them will be. They say patience is a
virtue, so I ask that you all become virtuous to a fault and bear with me as I trace the
contours of my own journey to this Cum Laude speech.
Last spring at our Faculty Appreciation Assembly I was thrilled when Ms. Teaff
named me the recipient of the Lulu Hampton Owen chair for this school year. My joy
that day was soon tempered by the realization that I would have to deliver a speech
before hundreds of people whose ages and interests vary widely.
A recent series of clever television commercials for an insurance company drives
home the point that Life Comes At You Fast. How true. Realizing that this assembly
would be coming at me fast, I began last spring to contemplate what I would say in what
I came to call The Speech.
One of the great things about the annual Cum Laude speech is that it does provide
a forum for a teacher to beckon the community to reflect upon ideas, concepts,
experiences, or events that have special import to the orator and possibly a significant
number of those in the audience.
Previous speakers have woven oratorical tapestries spliced by humor, wit, and
sober reflections upon serious contemporary concerns that grip our society and the world.
They have invited us, for example, to share with them their passion and love for
literature, the visual arts, and historical figures or periods. All of the previous iterations of
this speech have been more than worthy of the moment.
Now it was my watch, and the challenge seemed daunting, because I have never
considered writing and delivering speeches to be within my area of expertise. I would
have to move into uncharted waters, away from my comfort and competence zones.
As I wandered into my intellectual and emotional abyss I wrestled with one central
question: What do I possibly have to say that would warrant holding so many people
hostage to my musings?
Among my closest friends on the faculty, the roll-out of this speech has created
quite a stir. Knowing that this assignment was weighing heavily upon my mind, they
have done their best to increase my anxiety. Indeed, few days passed without one of them

2
asking how I was coming with the speech. Tad Wert even installed a clock on his website
that has counted down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to this event. Naturally, they
offered some well, and not-so-well-intended, suggestions regarding themes that I might
use for my speech.
Some of them urged me to reflect upon my experiences in Vietnam. Everyone,
they insisted, will love stories about incoming and trips to Saigon. Others suggested
that I also delve into other facets of my life, such as my experiences as a young boy
living in Brazil or as a high school student in England where I attended a boarding
school. While the shelf life of some of their suggestions was brief, I took the more serious
of their ideas to heart, even as I compiled my own list of possible themes and topics.
I briefly flirted with the notion of using cheesy sports metaphors or clichs to hammer
home some larger truths that needed telling. Picture me, if you will, extolling upon a
grand slam in the bottom of the ninth, a mighty blast that lifts the struggling home team
to a come-from-behind victory. Now substitute in your minds some improbable deed that
turns the tide as good triumphs over evil in the game of life, and maybe you can imagine
why this theme made my list.
As an American history teacher, it was perhaps predestined that I would weigh the
possibilities of trotting out or enlisting some noble figures from the past to use their
struggles against adversity to enlighten our own paths as we battle against personal and
societal woes.
Could we ever tire of hearing more about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,
Harriett Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other prominent
Americans that inspire us by their heroic actions?
I even entertained the thought of channeling some of our lesser lights in history.
Those who failed or otherwise compromised their positions of trust, might yet redeem
themselves somewhat by modeling for us behavior that we should not emulate.
Think President James Buchanan, for example, who stood by idle while our
nation fell apart on the eve of the Civil War. If he had done something, anything, to try to
prevent the southern states from leaving the Union, maybe the ensuing tragic war could
have been averted. But, he did nothing, running out the clock on his failed presidency,
acting as a caretaker President until Lincoln took over. What an example, we should NOT
follow. There are times when we must act, even when we are not sure that what we are
doing is the right thing. Inaction is simply not an option in these circumstances.
For a while I also toyed with the theme of self-awareness: the factors that
contribute to our understanding of who we are, and what we do with that knowledge once
we acquire it. Philosophers, theologians, writers, psychiatrists, and others have pondered
this concept with mixed results.
Maybe some of us have asked the crucial questions, Who am I? and Why am I
here? If we could answer those critical questions, the possibilities for a richer life would
surely ensue.
As I thought about these questions and how I might work them into my speech, I
remembered that they had become the subject of much public discussion back in 1992.
That year Admiral James Stockdale used those very words, Who am I? Why am I here?
as he attempted to introduce himself to a vast television audience in the vice presidential
debates that year.

3
Stockdale was running on the Reform Party ticket headed by millionaire businessman
Ross Perot. He hoped that his answers to these questions would reassure his listeners that
he was, indeed, a man of substance worthy of the high office to which he aspired.
Sadly for him, few Americans, myself included, wanted to listen to him and take his
answers seriously. Stockdale went on to be lampooned in entertainment circles as a
lightweight military man out of his league in the rough political waters of a presidential
contest. His caricature in sketches on televisions Saturday Night Live left an indelible
imprint upon those of us who still remember him.
Sadder still is the realization that the Admiral was deprived of a just hearing in a
society that takes great pride in the notion that everyone deserves a fair chance. He might
not have made a good vice president, but if leadership, intelligence, character, patriotism,
discipline and dedication to duty matter, and I think they should, Stockdale was certainly
qualified for the office he sought.
I learned all of this and more when I did a little research on Stockdale as I started
to draft this speech. He could be the poster boy in a campaign against rushing to
judgment about people or ideas.
In reality, he was a true American hero, a naval pilot who was shot down over
enemy territory during the Vietnam War, a man who spent seven and a half years in a
North Vietnamese prison. Repeatedly tortured by his captors who tried to get him to
renounce his countrys policies in exchange for lenient treatment, he steadfastly refused
to abandon his honor.
Later, after his release, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his
exemplary conduct. I wish I had taken the time back in 1992 to learn the truth about him.
We could certainly use more role models like him today.
While several of these avenues of inquiry held merit, I finally decided that the
spotlight of this speech, as I indicated at the outset of my remarks, rightly belonged upon
girls in white dresses.
I have witnessed many changes at Harpeth Hall in my twenty plus years as a
teacher here. The physical landscape has undergone a stunning transformation as new
buildings such as the Library, the Middle School, the visual arts building, and the
renovated Upper School provide beautiful and functional spaces for us to pursue our
common calling.
Harpeth Hall is in the vanguard of those institutions across the country that have
embraced technological innovations to enhance the learning process for all of our
students. Laptops, Smart Boards, overhead projectors, podcasts and the like are just a few
of the manifestations of this altered educational environment.
While our school and society shifts in new directions at an accelerating pace,
some traditions at Harpeth Hall have withstood the winds of change. These customs link
us to that which we hold dear and shape our behavior as a community. In this regard the
George Washington celebration readily comes to mind as an example. Girls and teachers
come and go, but these anchors to our school culture keep us from drifting away from our
bedrock values.
Thank goodness for girls in white dresses. On the most important days in our life
together as a community our girls commemorate the occasions by wearing white dresses.
This is true, for example, on Senior Recognition Day, Step Singing, Honor Day in the

4
Middle School, and graduation in the Upper School. Could you imagine the Lady of the
Hall wearing a red or yellow dress? I cannot wrap my mind around that image.
As a nation, we celebrate our independence with parades, fireworks, speeches,
patriotic music and good food and drink. At Harpeth Hall we celebrate our big events
with girls in white dresses processing in some fashion, be it on the lawn in front of Souby
Hall, or in venues such as this one.
On each of these days, girls in white dresses alter our visual landscape and set the
stage for us mentally, transporting us from the ordinary to the extraordinary. When we
see them, we know that we are about to shift our focus from the more mundane to the
more profound.
I would suggest that at this particular assembly, these girls in white dresses
summon us to take stock of what we believe in and what we are about at our core. They
symbolize our heritage as a premier educational institution, one that has long been
devoted to academic excellence and one in which teachers challenge and encourage
students at every turn to cultivate an intellectual curiosity and habits of the mind that will
enable them to experience success now and in the future.
And so, on this special day, I am pleased to play a part in this important ritual in
which we recognize and celebrate academic achievements. We are proud of these girls in
white dresses who have met and exceeded the demands of our rigorous curriculum. They
have distinguished themselves by earning one of the highest academic honors that we can
bestow upon them. Girls in white dresses, we salute you for your stellar performances.
Thank you.
Jim Cooper
Cum Laude Assembly
March 12, 2008